When Maggie was crowned the 2004-2005 National Cherry Queen, she expected it to be “the best year of my life” – and that’s just how things were going until November 29, 2004. On that day she was in a terrible car accident. As the vehicle rolled over eight times spanning a 200-yard stretch, the injuries Maggie suffered included a severed artery in her leg. She desperately needed blood, not only in the course of the initial, emergency treatment that saved her life, but also afterward, during months of recovery.

“Because of the kindness of strangers, the help of my doctors, and the blood I received, I’m alive and I still have my leg,” Maggie says. “Without people giving blood, I most likely would not be here today. I am unable to put how grateful I am into words. Thank you to all who give blood.”

And for people who haven’t yet become blood donors, Maggie has a special question: “You have the ability to save a life – isn’t that the most important and meaningful gift you could give?”

© Michigan Community Blood Centers